Tampons Are Weapon of Choice in Student-Made Tampon Run

[BlameTheWizards]

Tampons Are Weapon of Choice in Student-Made Tampon Run

Tampon Run, the creation of two high school students, switches out firearms as weapons in its game to question why gun violence is more socially acceptable than menstruation.

Guns are fairly ubiquitous in media, from books to movies to video games. Two young programmers, though, are questioning why society as a whole is more comfortable with displays of gun violence than it is talking about menstruation. The web game Tampon Run, created by New York City high school students Andrea Gonzales and Sophie Houser, wants to bring attention to this inconsistency by swapping out firearms for feminine hygiene products.

Taking cues from the "infinite runner" style of game, Tampon Run has players dispatching enemies in their path not with bullets but by throwing tampons at them. Touching the enemies drains your supply of the projectile, which you can refill by grabbing tampon boxes. Running out of tampons means game over.

The game opens with a message from Gonzales and Houser, explaining their goal with the game. "Most women menstruate for a large portion of their lives. It is, by all means, normal," reads the opening text. "Yet most people, women and men alike, feel uncomfortable talking about anything having to do with menstruation. The taboo that surrounds it teaches women that a normal and natural bodily function is embarrassing and crude."

Tampon Run ultimately seeks "a way of discussing the taboo in an accessible way," the game states. While it admits that giving enemies a face full of tampon might be a strange way to go about having this discussion, "its stranger that our society has accepted and normalized guns and violence through video games, yet we still find tampons and menstruation unspeakable."

The game was created as Gonzales and Houser's final project for the "Girls Who Code" camp held earlier this summer. Regardless on what your thoughts may be on the concept, you have to admire two young programmers for being willing to not only make a social statement but also developing a game to accompany it. You can play Tampon Run for free here.

Source: The Mary Sue

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[Pyrian]

I'm not sure the gameplay message of "tampons eliminate boys" is in line with their goals.

Bugged out on me after a couple tries.

 

[Crackerjacks]

This is an interesting concept - I also like that we've still got highschool students doing projects like these. It's interesting on a bunch of different levels. I'm not a woman, but I've always been confused at the taboo about talking about menstruation. I bet a lot of what makes it uncomfortable for people is that it's scary and pretty gross (or horrifying and absolutely terrifying, depending on how severe a lady gets it)

 

[Zombie Badger]

a

 

[Deathfish15]

So if you run out of tampons, does your character just bleed to death?

Is there some sort of PMS "rage mode" that can be unlocked?

If they add a river level, can the tampons be used as flotation devices?

 

[mechman123]

The game is pretty simplistic as it only has 2 buttons,BUT the chiptune it uses is nice and it is cute enough. Give it a shot.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

So if you run out of tampons, does your character just bleed to death?

Is there some sort of PMS "rage mode" that can be unlocked?

If they add a river level, can the tampons be used as flotation devices?

laughed too hard at this, and loved the second one.

OT: Pretty cool this was made by high school kids, and I agree with the message it's supposed to send. so kudos to them.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I think this game illustrates a larger social misconception: video games aren't a great medium for conveying topical awareness or social issues.
This game basically makes periods into laughing stocks. The most important question any game faces is 'is it fun?' That's what gives a game play value, not some half hearted message.
If there is a worthwhile message, great! But the primary focus of a game is to entertain.

Not knocking the issue. Women should not be made to feel shame about their periods, but I was always under the impression(as a guy FYI) that periods were personal things. Not embarrassing, just personal. Like I can't imagine I can just ask random women how their cycle is going. It's not an open table topic, or stand in line for a movie chitchat.

 

[Callate]

...Okay, you want to make a game about flinging tampons. Fine. I guess that was a niche that stood to be filled; I certainly didn't know it existed.

But "our society has accepted and normalized guns and violence through video games"?

Yes, video games rely on violence as a crutch to create easily conceptualized and understood conflict too often.

But anyone who grew up with gangster movies and cowboy TV shows would be perplexed by the idea that video games were the medium that normalized guns and violence. The fact that violent crime dipped as video game violence surged deserves an eyebrow, and I have a memory of a Canadian person on a panel in the era of Doom commenting something along the lines of "I would say it was something in American media, but we have all the same things up here..."

By all means contribute to the conversation, girls, and welcome. Just don't get the idea that you've already figured out all the answers from the lofty perch of high school.

 

[Baresark]

That is fine, they can produce the game they want to. But I also think it's not an issue society has as much a culturally held belief that "we don't talk about menstruation", which is not explicitly true. I have no issue talking about, joking about, asking informed questions about, any of it. It's not gross, it's just a fact of life. I think this is most people and the people who are made genuinely uncomfortable by it are in the minority.

"Deal with me!"
- menstruation and Adversity Jones

 

[Ajarat]

That is fine, they can produce the game they want to. But I also think it's not an issue society has as much a culturally held belief that "we don't talk about menstruation", which is not explicitly true. I have no issue talking about, joking about, asking informed questions about, any of it. It's not gross, it's just a fact of life. I think this is most people and the people who are made genuinely uncomfortable by it are in the minority.

"Deal with me!"
- menstruation and Adversity Jones

Hear, hear!

Personally, I think it's either a symptom of immaturity, but then again I've never been embarrassed by most natural functions...
Then again I had a very different upbringing, so I may be an outlier. Farm raised, so being shoulder deep in cow-vagina with a fist full of frozen bull sperm is the norm.. We as kids were regularly sent to town for tampons for mom and our sisters, and we did it because we love our mother and sisters. I also love my wife and will get anything she needs without hesitation. Also, as a man, buying products like tampons shows that I have women in my life whom I love and who also love and trust me. That's a GOOD feeling, not something to be embarrassed about. No, I'll not be embarrassed to do what I must to help out those I love, but that's MY perspective (limited as it may be).

Post Note: The wife is reading over my shoulder and I just got a kiss. I'm a good boy! I hope I'm still good come bed-time...

 

[FalloutJack]

Just so long as this doesn't degenerate into something like "Boys are stupid! Throw rocks at them!".

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Menstruation happens to a segment of the population who isn't me. Ok.
It's something that's happening to maybe less than a tenth of the world's population daily. With you so far.

Where I'm losing you is why we need to discuss it. Why should it not be taboo? It's taboo to talk about waste removal in most aspects of mixed society. Why should menstruation be any different? I mean, why should we HAVE a discussion over it? It's nature. It's not like people don't know it exists. It's not shameful. It just is.

I'm just at a lost of the sentiment here.

 

[Pyrian]

Just so long as this doesn't degenerate into something like "Boys are stupid! Throw rocks at them!".

Tampons. Throw tampons at them. Not rocks.

 

[omega 616]

Guns make sense, you pull a trigger and a small piece of lead gets fired out and does significant damage. A tampon is a bit of cotton wool with string on ... I don't see any red in that picture but lets say for arguments sake that they were "used", it's still not doing damage ... unless, well, lets not get into that.

How can you expect me to buy this concept of dispatching bad guys by throwing cotton wool at them? How does this start a conversation about bleeding once a month? Do guys need to make a game to start the conversation about NRB's (no reason boners) or trying to tinkle while sporting wood?

Everybody over the age of ... 14? Knows women have periods, why do we need to discuss this more?

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Well better than anything I could make so I won't complain.
Personally I always thought all genital/crotch hygiene wasn't talked about, not just menstruation. I also think the creators completely missed the point of gun violence in video games, you can't really have a modern conflict story without them.

 

[ASnogarD]

well last I remember years back, wet dreams was a issue, nocturnal emissions was the scientific term...basically teenage male involuntary discharge.

My point is both genders suffer from issues, its not a girl thing or a boy issue...its the same thing viewed from different angles.

 

[kailus13]

As far as I can tell, people don't like talking about any substance coming out of the human body. Unless it requires surgery at which point it will be discussed at length.

A game where things associated with menstruation repel people probably isn't helping matter though.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Where I'm losing you is why we need to discuss it. Why should it not be taboo? It's taboo to talk about waste removal in most aspects of mixed society. Why should menstruation be any different? I mean, why should we HAVE a discussion over it? It's nature. It's not like people don't know it exists. It's not shameful. It just is.

It's rather more taboo than going to the toilet, though, for some reason.

I mean, how often have you seen someone on TV doing that dance they do when they need to go to the toilet, usually as comedy? You are very rarely going to see something tampon related done the same way.